by Dana Marton
* * *
Carmen
Carmen nearly dropped the phone. Their small room seemed to close in on her. She couldn’t breathe.
Phil was by her side instantly. “What is it?”
Her body trembled so hard, she thought she was shaking the room. She put out a hand to steady herself on the doorframe. “They have her.”
“They have our Lila?” He grabbed her gently by the shoulders, his gaze eagerly searching her face. “Who?”
Tears streamed down. “The police. We have to go to the station.”
Her hair was a mess. Her clothes were a mess. She’d let Gabriela and Fernanda give her a makeover earlier, to the girls’ great entertainment. Whenever she wasn’t out on the streets looking for her daughter, she was with the girls downstairs. They kept her sane.
She glanced in the small mirror on the wall as she flew toward the door. Winced at her reflection. And kept going. Thank God she had clothes on, because if she hadn’t, she wasn’t positive she’d take time to dress. She might have run out in her underwear.
Phil ran right by her side, catching her when she tripped over her own feet, his voice tight. “What did they say?”
“It was Daniela. She said they had Lila.”
“Is she sure it’s Lila?”
“They’ve seen her picture enough.” But Carmen didn’t dare fully believe it either. Her heart was a soap bubble.
They ran into Pierre at the bottom of the stairs, sorting mail. “What’s going on?”
“They have Lila!” Phil shouted as they passed the Frenchman. “We’re going to the police station.”
Pierre ran after them. “I’ll take you. The truck is up front.”
Mrs. Frieseke came running from somewhere in the back at the commotion, a wooden spoon dripping in her hand. “What happened?”
“The police have Lila!” Pierre called back. “We’re going to the station.”
Carmen kept running. Then she was in the truck, and if willpower could make trucks fly, they would have been in the air already.
Pierre took the wheel. A good thing, because Phil’s hands were shaking as hard as hers. They held hands the whole way over, sometimes praying out loud, sometimes praying silently, and sometimes just sitting there and crying.
She didn’t dare be happy. Not yet. Not yet.
What if it wasn’t true?
God, let it be true. Please, dear God.
She barely registered when they arrived at the station. Or when they ran inside. Or when they were shown to the back. Everything passed in a blur.
Then they came to an office with a window to the hallway. A uniformed officer stood in front of the door. On the other side of the window, inside the room, a female officer rocked Lila back and forth as the baby slept.
The world stopped. Snapped into focus. Blood rushed loudly in Carmen’s ears as she gripped Phil’s arm. She was light-headed. She lunged toward the door anyway.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. No one can go in,” the officer said.
She stared at him, barely comprehending the words, even though her Portuguese was excellent. “That’s my baby in there.”
Phil went nose to nose with the guy. “Look here—”
“It’s okay.” Detective Gustavo Santos hurried down the hall from the opposite direction. “Let them in.”
As soon as the door opened, Carmen flew through, then she had to slow down so she wouldn’t jostle Lila too much and wake her, scare her.
She didn’t take a full breath until she had the baby on her shoulder, having to remind herself not to hug her too tightly. She buried her nose in the silky baby hair and breathed in her sweet baby scent, let the tears flow as Phil’s arms went around them.
There wasn’t enough air in the room. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t say a word. All she could do was stand there and hold her baby.
“Thank God,” Phil said to the top of her head, his arms steady, his voice shaky.
Lila stirred. Opened her eyes.
Then those little baby blue eyes widened, and she went nuts, squealing and wiggling, smiling, grabbing for Carmen and her daddy. Some people thought babies this age didn’t really know what went on around them, but Lila sure did. She was overjoyed to see her parents.
“We have some paperwork for you to fill out when you’re ready,” Detective Santos said from the doorway. “Take your time. Officer Romero will be outside the door. He’ll let you know when the ambulance gets here. The baby will need to be checked out at the hospital and released by a doctor before you can take her home.”
Carmen just nodded without looking at him, barely registering the words.
The man said, “She wasn’t hurt, as far as we can tell. The people who had her took care of her to make sure she could be—” He stopped. Continued with “adopted.”
But as seamlessly as he’d transitioned, Carmen knew what he’d meant to say. So she could be sold.
The utter outrage of the unspoken word burned through her. That her precious baby daughter could have been sold. Had nearly been sold.
And even though Lila had been saved, other mothers’ daughters were sold. Every day. All over the world. Including right here in Manaus.
Somewhere in Carmen’s brain, the thought registered that she wanted to think about that, harder than ever before. Work harder than ever before to stop these tragedies. But right at that moment, she couldn’t think past having Lila in her arms.
Santos said, “I was about to start the interrogation when I learned that you arrived. I better get back.”
The detective left and pulled the door shut behind him.
Phil sank into the nearest chair and pulled Carmen onto his lap, just hugged them and hugged them.
“We got you, baby,” he repeated over and over.
And Carmen kept saying, “We love you so much.”
She didn’t know how much time passed before Detective Santos returned with a handful of printouts. “The ambulance is here. If you fill out the paperwork now, you won’t have to come back to the station again today. I’ll stop by See-Love-Aid tomorrow, and we’ll talk. Today, just enjoy your baby.”
Carmen kept holding Lila. Phil filled out the paperwork. She only signed her name on the bottom of a few sheets and didn’t even put the baby down for that.
Ian and Daniela waited in the hallway, walked out with them. Carmen thanked both of them, and so did Phil.
When the medic said only one of the parents could go in the back of the ambulance with Lila to the hospital, Ian immediately offered a ride. Apparently, Pierre had gone back to See-Love-Aid a short while ago, but he’d left them the truck.
Since Phil hadn’t even held Lila yet, Carmen gave her daughter a million kisses, then handed her over to her father. “You take her. I’ll go with Ian and Daniela.”
Phil kissed her hard, teary-eyed, and got in the back of the ambulance with Lila.
Carmen could barely sit still in the truck as they followed behind them. “It really happened, right? She’s back?”
While Ian drove, Daniela hugged Carmen tightly. “She’s back.”
Lila is back. Thank God, Lila is back.
She caught her reflection in the rearview mirror, all the makeup the girls had put on her. Flinched. She looked like a clown. Not that she cared. But still, she tried to rub some off with the back of her hand.
“Check the glove compartment,” Daniela said.
And when Carmen found an old, wrinkled napkin, Daniela took it from her and wiped off the makeup as the pickup rattled toward the hospital.
“How did you find her?” Carmen asked finally.
At first, all that had mattered was that Lila was alive and safe, but now Carmen wanted to know everything.
“Carol took her.” Ian’s voice was clipped, his expression tight with anger.
His words made no sense. “Why?” Carmen blinked at him. “Carol is about to have her own baby.”
Daniela gave Carmen a squeeze. “Her baby is sick.”
“Sick how?”
“A problem with her heart. Inoperable. She’s not expected to live a day or two beyond delivery. Carol has known for a while now. She actually had a date for inducement in Rio.”
A somber silence fell over the truck’s cab.
“Lila wasn’t stolen to be sold into adoption. Carol was going to have her baby in Rio,” Ian said. “Take the birth certificate, then pretend that Lila was that baby. The difference is big now, but in a year…”
Carmen shook her head, wiped her tears, horrified, relieved, confused, trying to get a grip. “And Lila is such a little thing anyway. Carol could have gotten away with it.”
Thank God, Carol had been stopped, was all she could think.
And good luck to Lila, because she was going to be thirty before her parents ever let her out of their sight again.
* * *
Ian
Midnight passed by the time Lila Heyerdahl was finally released from the hospital to the custody of her incredibly grateful mother and father.
Daniela and Ian stayed with the Heyerdahls until the end and drove them back to See-Love-Aid through a city shrouded in darkness. Since there wasn’t enough room in the pickup’s cab, Phil volunteered to ride in the back.
Of course, at See-Love-Aid, nobody slept. They’d all waited up, and everyone came running, everyone talking and laughing at the same time, everyone wanting to at least pat the baby’s head. Lila ate up her sudden celebrity status and blew bubbles. At the end, they all piled into the cafeteria, the only place large enough to hold the crowd.
“Why?”
“How?”
“Carol?”
“How could she?”
Carmen ended up answering the questions, holding her finally sleeping baby, shaking her head every time anyone asked if she wanted someone to give her a break. She looked as if she might never put that kid down again.
Phil sat glued to her side, his arms around his wife and child.
“Carol’s baby is sick.” Carmen’s eyes filled with tears. “I think, maybe she couldn’t handle the thought of losing her baby, on top of losing her husband.”
Ian wasn’t sure if she was crying for Carol or herself. Probably both.
He stood in the back by the door, Daniela in front of him. She’d done well today. Carol had messed with his head, but Daniela’s head had remained clear. She really was something. She was going to be an excellent investigator. He was damned proud of her.
While Carmen answered more questions, Daniela leaned back against Ian’s chest.
He should have pushed her away. He didn’t. They’d both had an emotionally exhausting day.
As everyone crowded around Carmen and Phil, Ian pulled toward the door. The people in the cafeteria were a family. He wanted to give them their private family moment.
He headed up to the volunteer dorms.
Daniela followed him, bouncing on the steps, still wired, high on adrenaline. She’d just solved her first case.
“You got that baby back for those parents,” he told her.
She grinned. “So you think I’ll be good at this job?”
“Better than good. You can partner with me anytime.”
She grinned wider. Her eyes lit up. Her dark hair framed her face, loosened from the tight bun she’d had it in all day. She looked like a true river goddess.
He could have looked at her all night.
He turned his attention to the chipped tile of the hallway, then to their room as they walked in.
It was the middle of the night, but they were both sticky, so they headed to the showers. Girls on the left, boys on the right.
Ian returned to their room first. He stretched out on the bed.
Maybe forcing himself to act relaxed would make him feel relaxed.
Since Daniela had come into his life, he’d stopped sleeping naked. He always wore at least boxer briefs, and sometimes a T-shirt too. And now that they were sharing a room, he made sure the sheet was pulled at least to his waist.
Bad enough that she kept wearing that flimsy nightgown. All right, so not that flimsy. The white material covered everything down to her knees. Still, as far as he was concerned, she would tempt a saint who was a thousand years dead.
Thank God, tomorrow they’d be out of here, back to separate bedrooms at home, then off on separate missions. Sure, he’d be worried about her every day. But he knew she could handle whatever came her way.
As he waited for her, he braced himself for the sight of her, ready to turn out the light as soon as she reached her bed.
But when Daniela came in, she wasn’t wearing her nightgown. She returned from the bathroom in a bath towel. And then she locked the door behind her and dropped the towel. Drops of water glistened on her naked skin as if she’d been painted with diamonds.
“Christ,” he breathed.
* * *
Daniela
Daniela’s heart beat in her throat. Her skin was on fire just from Ian looking at her, his gaze pure molten lava, as if he was never going to take his eyes off her ever again.
Walking over to him took every ounce of courage she had.
She put her pride on the line. She laid her body and heart bare for him. This was it.
Lila Heyerdahl was safe.
Tonight was the night. Tonight, Daniela would finally be Ian’s, and then forever after. After all these years, coming together here in Brazil, where they’d first met, felt right. Fate.
She’d prepared a long, convincing speech in the shower. She couldn’t remember a word.
“I love you,” she said simply.
He watched her as if he’d been lost in the jungle for a month and suddenly came across a waiter carrying a steak dinner on a tray.
Or maybe that was just a trick of the light, because he said, his voice past strangled, “Please put on your clothes.”
“I love you,” she said again.
He closed his eyes. “Stop this.”
And then he was off his bed. And then he was shrugging into his jeans, grabbing his sneakers, and then he was out the door. Running away once again.
She stared after him as the door swung shut, her heart pounding. She sat on her bed, light-headed. He will come back. She’d just startled him. He will come back.
She’d given him her heart. All these years, she hadn’t even been sure if she had a heart to give. But she did. And she was glad. And as soon as Ian thought about it, he’d be glad too.
He loved her. His love had been there in the way he looked at her, in the million things he did for her, in the tone of his voice when he talked to her. In that single, spectacular kiss they’d shared. He will come back.
But when she woke in the morning, his bed was still empty.
And Daniela felt her newfound heart crack right to its core.
She was stunned. She was cold, which was physically impossible in this heat, but there she was, shivering. She was angry.
She wanted Ian to come back, but now she wanted it so she could yell at him. I love you. And if you could let go of your stupid hang-ups about us, you’d love me too. I can’t believe you’re such a coward!
That anger got her going at last.
She dressed. Packed. Stood in the middle of the room.
And then she cried like the stupid, infatuated girl she still was. Ian was right. She hadn’t grown up. He’d said no a dozen times, and she kept throwing herself at him.
Maybe he didn’t love her.
Maybe he had never loved her romantically, only as a friend, exactly as he’d said. Maybe he was never going to love her the way she craved. Maybe she’d made all that great love up in her head.
He’d offered friendship, and she’d gone crazy with it.
Bobby at GWU thought she was into him.
Maybe she was to Ian what Bobby was to her. An unrequited love she didn’t want to hurt because they were friends. She thought about how uncomfortable Bobby had made her feel at times.
Then she thought about how Ian
tried to get away from her every time she pushed the relationship issue.
God, I’ve been stupid.
She was mortified.
But this was it now. She squared her shoulders and squared her jaw. This was the end. She had grown up finally. She was a woman. A strong woman. And she was going to build herself a good life, a life that didn’t revolve around hopelessly pining for Ian Slaney.
He’d saved her four years ago. She would forever be grateful to him. But she was going to stop ruining both of their lives with her stupid unrequited love, right this second.
Should have known, a little voice, the voice of young Daniela, beaten-down Daniela in Rosa’s house, said in her head. Her mother had died and left her alone. Then Pedro had passed her on and abandoned her at Rosa’s. Rosa passed her on too. Then Finch had died and left her too. Why had she thought that Ian would want her forever? Of course he wouldn’t.
Daniela squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to scream.
She hated that timid voice of insecurity. Hated it every time it came back. She was no longer the helpless little Daniela, at the mercy of others.
She pulled out her phone and reserved a seat on the next plane from Manaus to the US. She didn’t care if Ian could get on the same flight or not. In fact, she preferred going home on separate planes.
Chapter Eighteen
Ian
Daniela had left him in Brazil. What the hell?
As Ian sat on the plane, going home alone, his feelings must have shown on his face, because the flight attendants gave him a wide berth.
He’d meant to stay in Brazil for a few more days, go back to Rio, find Marcos Morais, and have a heart-to-heart, better yet, a fist-to-face, with the man. But Ian didn’t like the way Daniela had left.
He’d upset her. More than that—he’d hurt her. He had to make it right.
Since he hadn’t slept all night, he’d had time to think. He was trying to do right by Daniela, but she saw that as a rejection.
He had been a pretty big part of her life in the last couple of years. She had no family in the US and few friends, no wide network of support.
So, right now, Ian needed to go after her, spend a few days with her, iron things out between them, make sure she was okay. Make sure that she knew she was important to him, that he wanted her in his life, wanted to be in her life for as long as she’d let him. Romance…could not happen. But he was desperate to go back to the way things had been between them for the past four years.
